Miranda against the world
by MathLeft
Summary: Have you ever wondered why Miranda was not in The Lizzie McGuire Movie and the final six episodes? I know I have. Miranda has returned to Hillridge, but she's hiding something. See how Lizzie gradually finds out what's wrong with her. Chapter 6 is up now.
1. Chapter 1

_Have you always wondered why Miranda was not in the Lizzie McGuire Movie and six episodes of the show__ (which were actually the last six that were made)? Did you think that "being on vacation in Mexico" and "being sick" were poor excuses? I know I did. That's why in this story, I will give my view on where Miranda was and why._

_Although this is a story about Miranda, its main focus will be on Lizzie gradually finding out what's going on with her best friend._

_Just one more note from me: this story may turn a little bit sad as the plot unfolds – don't worry; it won't be completely depressing or anything, as I shall try not to deviate too far from the show's tone. It just won't be another sugar-coated little love story like the one-shot I wrote a while ago._

_Will this be a story you like? Well, I guess there's only one way __for you to find out… so please read and review.  
__MathLeft_

* * *

**Miranda against the world**

"I can't believe it's really you!" Lizzie squealed.

"I can't believe it either," Gordo said, not as loudly, but equally excited. "I was afraid you'd never come back."

They were standing in the McGuires' front yard, facing their best friend Miranda, who had come running through the pouring rain to be reunited with her two best friends. She had been away for over two months, but now she was pulling them into one big hug.

"I've missed you guys so much," she whispered in a cracked voice.

It wasn't long until tears of happiness were running down each of the three amigos' cheeks – of course Gordo dismissed his as raindrops. Neither Lizzie nor Gordo had expected to be embracing their badly missed Miranda in the evening of what had started as such an ordinary summer day.

* * *

Lizzie and Gordo had spent the whole day hanging out at Lizzie's house, just taking it easy and enjoying the sunshine. It was the summer after graduating from Hillridge Middle School and the soon to be high school students had returned from their trip to Rome a few weeks ago. They had been full of their adventures in Italy when they came back. In fact, it was all they could talk about or even think of for at least a week, but now the excitement was gradually wearing off. Of course, their adventures had certainly not been forgotten.

The only one who had not been talking about Rome was Lizzie. After all, she had been grounded for the rest of the summer for sneaking away during her Italian vacation. It is needless to say that Lizzie tried everything she could to get out of it. It wasn't too long until her father could no longer say no to the 'sad eyes' and caved in, much to her mother's dismay. Going out was still strictly forbidden, but Lizzie was allowed to have some friends over now. She used this bit of freedom to spend almost every day together with Gordo. Their range of activities was rather limited though, as the 'parental units' held a close eye on Lizzie at all times. And so it came that also that day, Lizzie and Gordo spent most of the day sunbathing in the backyard and when they got tired of that, they watched a movie that Gordo had brought with him. _Run Lola Run_ was Gordo's movie of the day. According to him, it was famous for its intense visual style, but after watching it, Lizzie didn't share his opinion. "I think it looks just like a normal day of _my_ life…" was what she said.

Lizzie and Gordo had so much time on their hands this summer that they even helped Mr. McGuire to paint his lawn gnomes.

Towards the end of the day, when the sun was gradually approaching the horizon, the two of them were hanging out in Lizzie's room together. Gordo had pulled up a chair and was letting his feet rest on the bed, where Lizzie was seated. They were just sitting there and talking, like they had done so many times before, but, underneath the surface, something had been different lately. Lizzie was the first one to address this feeling.

"It's been a pretty weird summer, wouldn't you say?"

Gordo looked up from his chair and said: "What's so strange about it? Don't we always hang out together? Aren't you enjoying yourself?"

"Sure, I am," Lizzie smiled, "but what I mean is: usually Miranda's here too. It's been different without her…"

Gordo realized that she was right. "I know. The tree amigos are feeling incomplete…

"I mean, not that I don't enjoy our time together, because I do," he added and they exchanged a smile. "It's just… different. I'm sure you miss spending time with her too. You know I'm no good for girl talk…"

"Yeah. I wonder how she's doing…" Lizzie said, as she stared out the window, as if she could see all the way to Mexico from here. "You know, we haven't heard from her ever since she left so suddenly near the end of the school year. It's nothing like her not to stay in touch."

"Well, maybe she's been busy or something. I'm sure she would have called us if she could," Gordo said in an effort to comfort her.

"Yeah… maybe she doesn't have access to a phone there…"

"Lizzie, it's Mexico, not the middle of nowhere. I'm pretty sure they have phones in Mexico."

"I know that! But her parents may have forbidden her to call. You know, after sneaking away to see some cute Mexican guy, tall and muscled with…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the picture," Gordo interrupted, "but then she should have used the 'sad eyes' on the parents. That always seems to work with you."

"You know about that?"

"Of course I know about the sad eyes; everybody does."

"And yet no-one can resist them…"

They continued their conversation without much else to worry about. When the sun disappeared to make room for a refreshing summer shower, Lizzie and Gordo went to sit on the steps of the front porch and silently watched the cooling rain fall down together.

Suddenly they heard a pair of feet spurting through the wet streets.

"Who would go jogging in _this_ weather?" Lizzie wondered.

"Who would go jogging in any kind of weather?" Gordo remarked. "Oh, wait a minute, there's a girl at the end of the street. There, with dark brown hair and…"

"But wait a minute, isn't that…?"

"I can't be…"

"Yes it is! It's her!"

Both Lizzie and Gordo jumped up and started running towards her to pull their best friend Miranda into said hug.

* * *

After having stood there for a while, almost squeezing each other, they realized how hard it was raining and went inside the house. Lizzie and Gordo stepped through the door first and when Mrs. McGuire saw the two drenched teenagers, she exclaimed: "Why would you two be standing in the rain. Look at your clothes and oh…"

At that moment she saw who was coming in behind them. "Miranda! You're back!" she said and she gave her a hug as only mothers do.

Mr. McGuire and Matt also came to the door, as they heard all the commotion.

"Hey there, Miranda. Good to see you again," Mr. McGuire said cheerfully as he patted her on the head.

Matt wasn't sure how to respond, after all Miranda was one of his sisters friends, but she pulled him close and ran her hand playfully through his spiky hair.

"Um, thanks…" Matt stammered, readjusting his spikes.

"So, how've you been?" Mrs. McGuire spoke to Miranda. "Did you just get back from Mexico? That's a long trip. You must be hungry. Sam, get the girl something to eat."

"No, no, I'm fine, thanks," Miranda said. "We already stopped at a diner on our way back and let me tell you: when us Sanchezes have dinner, we order enough for a whole orphanage."

"Mom, is it all right if we go upstairs now?" Lizzie asked.

"All right then," Mrs. McGuire smiled. "I'm sure the three of you have got a lot of catching up to do."

And they did. When they got to Lizzie's room, Miranda wanted to know all about what happened the last two months, at school and of course on their trip to Rome. Lizzie and Gordo filled her in on recent events, from the murder mystery party to their Roman adventures, with Lizzie having to share a room with Kate and her sneaking away to pose as an Italian pop singer, not leaving out any details. Well, except maybe for a certain kiss on a certain rooftop that neither of them dared to mention.

"…and then my parents came to Rome," Lizzie told. "Of course they found out about everything and do you know what they did? They grounded me. For the entire summer! They were _so_ overreacting. Luckily I managed to get some time off. Actually, I will be 'released' the day after tomorrow.

"But enough about Gordo and me," she continued. "Tell me what you've been up to, Miranda!"

"Oh, nothing spectacular," Miranda said. "Just here and there… hanging out…"

"Nothing spectacular?!" Gordo exclaimed. "You've just spent two months in Mexico. We've never been there; you've got to tell us what it was like."

"Well, lots of sombreros and cactuses. You know, just the usual," Miranda said and she turned away to look out the window. "I didn't get much time to check the surroundings, anyway."

"Oh, so you got stuck with your family the whole time?" Lizzie said. "I know what _that's _like. So how's your family doing? Didn't you mention you were visiting your aunt?"

Miranda sighed. "I'm sure they're doing all right. And my aunt too…"

"Don't you have like lots of stories to tell?" Lizzie asked and she wondered why Miranda would tell them so little about everything. Perhaps she should try a different approach to get her talking. She got up to join Miranda by the open bedroom window. "How about those Mexican guys? Met any hotties out there?" she asked, playfully poking her in the side with her elbow.

"Not exactly," Miranda said, still staring into the nothingness outside. "Really, there's not much to tell."

"That's nothing like the Miranda I know," said Gordo, who had joined them at the window. "Normally you always have a million stories to tell, especially when it's about _boys_. Believe me, I can tell."

She cautiously looked over her shoulder to where Gordo and Lizzie were standing and said in a small voice: "Maybe I'm not like the Miranda you know." She turned back and sighed: "Everything is just so different now…"

"What's different now? Is something wrong?" Lizzie tried to ask, but at that moment the bedroom door swung open and Lizzie's mother stormed in hysterically, shouting: "Miranda! Didn't you forget something? Like maybe letting your parents know where you are?"

"I… um," Miranda stammered.

"They just called me, worried sick, because you suddenly ran off, without telling anyone where you were going! How can you do that?!"

Miranda sighed deeply. "Well, _sorry_…" she said, but she was rolling her eyes and the tone of her voice had gone from timid to agitated and that didn't make her apology sound very sincere.

For a moment it sounded as if Mrs. McGuire was going to start an argument, but she probably realized that this was not the right time and Miranda not her child to discipline. Instead she merely informed them that Miranda's father was on his way to pick her up and left the room.

"You just ran off?!" Gordo called out in disbelief the moment Mrs. McGuire was gone.

"Why would you lie about it to your parents?" Lizzie said. "What has come over you?!"

"I didn't lie," Miranda hissed, "it's just none of their damn business!"

"What happened?"

"Are you in a fight with your parents?"

"About what?"

"Is that what's different now?" Lizzie and Gordo asked, shooting a million questions an hour.

"Stop giving me a third degree!" Miranda snapped. "Jeez! You're just like my parents, you know that?! Always sticking their nose into my business. Always trying to control every little thing I do! They have no idea what's best for me! How could they send me to that …place in New Mexico! Why has everybody gone so freaking insane?!"

At this point, Miranda broke out in tears, but she had already said enough to startle Lizzie and Gordo.

"_New_ Mexico?!" they called out in unison.

Miranda looked up worried, as if she had just been found out.

"We didn't know you were going _there_…" Gordo said.

"Oh, Mexico, New Mexico… Whatever difference does that make?" Miranda said, trying to wave it away as a slip of the tongue.

"And your mom and dad _sent_ you?" Lizzie asked. "Did you go on your own?"

"What were you doing there?" Gordo asked simultaneously.

"Nothing!" Miranda yelled.

"Nothing?! Why won't you tell us what happened?!" Gordo called out indignantly.

"Yeah, what are you hiding from us?!" Lizzie asked, backing him up.

"Shut up! Just shut up, will you?!" Miranda cried out, bursting out in a whole new set of tears.

At that moment, the door swung open for the second time that evening. This time it was Mr. Sanchez who stormed in. He yelled something to Miranda in Spanish – and even though Lizzie and Gordo didn't know any Spanish, it was clear that it couldn't be any good.

Mr. Sanchez grabbed Miranda by the arm and dragged her out of the room, out of the house, without exchanging a single word to the rest, without even a single look.

Before Lizzie and Gordo knew it, Miranda had disappeared as suddenly as she had arrived earlier that evening. Lizzie and Gordo were left behind, overwhelmed by everything. They couldn't really make sense out of what had happened, but they both realized that something was very, very wrong…

* * *

_Please __leave me a review. Don't hesitate and let me know what you think; I really want to know, good or bad._

(posted on July 25, 2008)


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for the reviews!  
__Now it's time to reveal a little bit of the mystery.  
__So without further ado, here's chapter two._

* * *

Lizzie turned around in her bed once more. It had not been a good night's sleep, just like the night before. Although she was definitely tired, she kept brooding over what had happened the day before yesterday.

The new day's first sunbeams were already reaching her eyes through her softly waving curtains. Lizzie sat up in bed to look at the alarm clock on her nightstand. It was only half past five, but she figured that she might just as well get up now, since she wouldn't be able to get more sleep this morning anyway. She took a few steps on her wooden floor to feel the cool morning breeze that came though her half-open bedroom window. The calm and tranquil world that she saw through it stood in sharp contrast to her restless thoughts.

'_I wonder how Miranda is doing… She was__ acting so weird the other day; she was clearly hiding something. But why can't she even tell _me_ – her best friend? Didn't we always share every secret with each other?'_

She tried to spot the Sanchez's rooftop, which she used to be able to see from her bedroom window, but lately her sight had become blocked by an elm tree that had grown in between. Lizzie wondered what she was supposed to do. _'Should I give her some time alone or call her? I can't just pretend nothing has happened…'_

After having stood there for a little while, she figured she'd better talk to Gordo first; he usually knew what to do. She immediately put actions to her words: she took the cordless phone from underneath her bed pillow and dialed Gordo's cell phone number. While the phone on the other end of the line was ringing, she seated herself on the windowsill. Eventually, a hoarse, peevish voice answered with a short "What?"

"Hey Gordo, Lizzie here. I needed to talk to you."

"Lizzie, are you crazy?! It's in the middle of the night!"

"Wow, sounds like someone is being cranky in the morning again…"

"What did you expect at 5.39 in the morning?" Gordo responded grumpily, but as he was getting more awake, his curiosity took over and he continued: "but now that I'm awake anyway, you may just as well tell me where the fire is…"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Miranda."

Lizzie could see through the phone how Gordo's face turned serious as he replied: "Yeah, I've been worrying about her too. Have you spoken her since, you know, her little 'outburst' the other day?"

"I've wanted to talk to her, but after what happened, I wasn't sure what to say to her…"

"Same for me, but the longer we wait, the harder it'll be."

"So you think it's a good idea if we go over there today?"

"Yeah, she's our best friend. If she's going through a rough time or something, we've got to be there for her."

"I'm with you Gordo," Lizzie agreed. "Shall we say Miranda's house in half an hour?"

"Don't you think they'll still be sleeping?" Gordo stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh right!" Lizzie realized. "First thing in the morning then?"

"OK, I'll pick you up at your house."

Lizzie agreed, although she knew that "first thing in the morning" usually meant at ten or eleven with Gordo, as he wasn't much of a morning person.

It surprised her therefore to find him at the McGuire front door at eight. Lizzie's parents were having coffee in the kitchen and she told them that they were going to spend the day at Miranda's. Not much was said while the couple walked to Miranda's house together. Once they had reached the Sanchez's driveway, they both stopped and took a deep breath, still not exactly knowing what to say.

Daniela Sanchez, Miranda's mother, had already spotted them and opened the front door. "Lizzie, Gordo, good you're here! It'll be nice for Miranda to have some friends over."

She went back inside and Miranda appeared in the doorway shortly after.

"Hey guys," she said shyly. "I'm glad you're here… I guess I was a little off the other day."

"Yeah, what happened?" Lizzie asked.

"We've been a bit worried about you," Gordo added.

"O, you guys! There's nothing to be worried about. I was just a little tired from the trip, that's all…"

"But why then did you say you went to New Mexico instead of Mexico?" Lizzie asked.

"O… that… um… I already told you that I was going to visit my family in Mexico," Miranda answered, staring at her feet, "and after that… we _also_ went to New Mexico to visit some more family members…"

"Hm, I've never heard you about your family in _New_ Mexico…" Gordo said.

"O, well, you know me; big family, family members everywhere. Besides, that border is like a whole 'gray area'. One moment you're in one country, the next moment you're in the other. I couldn't keep track of where I was most of the time. With the… landscape and those buildings in Mexican style everywhere. Don't you think they look beautiful? I know I do. And there's of course the burros painted like zebras," Miranda babbled and she was now wildly gesturing. "So there's really nothing to be worried about."

"OK, if you say so…" Lizzie said, not entirely convinced by Miranda's explanation, but she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Hey! Come on, it's a beautiful summer day. Let's not waste it by worrying all day," Miranda said, trying to sound more cheerful. "What do you wanna do today?"

"That's the spirit!" Lizzie said enthusiastically. "Let's go to the mall."

"I could have guessed," Gordo replied, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, I haven't been there since I was grounded, you know!" Lizzie said with her hands on her hips, then turned to Miranda to ask: "So, what do you say, Miranda?"

"Don't know… maybe the mall is not…" Miranda said, but she was interrupted by a voice from the hallway saying: "That's a wonderful idea!"

It was her mother, who had apparently been listening. "Let me give you a ride…"

* * *

Once Mrs. Sanchez had dropped them off, Lizzie had forgotten all about Miranda and she got ready for some serious catching-up shopping.  
She was tingling with excitement by the mere sight of all the stores in her beloved mall. Gordo and Miranda didn't share her level of enthusiasm, but chuckled when they noticed the effect it had on their friend. In fact, Miranda appeared to be in better spirits than before.

"So, where do you want to go first?" Gordo asked.

"To the Style Shack!" Lizzie exclaimed without hesitation. "I've heard that brand new dress is finally in. It's a silver-gray, medium-length dress with sequins at the…"

An elaborate description followed as they walked to the Style Shack. Once they got there, Lizzie was practically running towards her potential new outfit and rushed into one of the dressing rooms with it, leaving Miranda and Gordo behind. They decided to browse through the boutique in a much calmer way, still chuckling a little about their best friend's ways.

Gordo took a hat from one of the racks and placed it on top of his head, just a little bit tilted.

"How do I look?" he asked Miranda, with his, in his eyes, coolest look.

Miranda turned around to look at him and immediately started laughing. "You do realize that's a women's hat, don't you?"

Gordo looked up surprised. "Erm… Oh, um, of course I do…" he stammered, quickly putting his head away.

"You do know we're in a women's clothing store, right?"

Gordo now took a good look around and his face turned red. "Well, what do you say? Shall we try to see if there's something of your liking here then?"

Miranda shrugged. "As if I can afford any of the stuff in here."

"That's never stopped Lizzie before," he replied, pulling a random piece of clothing from one of the shelves. "How about this?"

"You gotta be kidding me!" Miranda exclaimed. "I could never wear _that_. That's way too tight for me…"

Gordo got ready to respond, but before he could, the curtain of one of the changing rooms was briskly swept open.

"Tada!" Lizzie yelled, holding her arms wide in a movie-star pose to show off her dress.

"Wow!" Gordo stammered.

"You like?" Lizzie asked, giggling about the effect she had on him. "How about you, Miranda?"

The dress also got Miranda's seal of approval and Lizzie's eye fell on the piece of clothing Gordo was still holding in his hands.

"Oh yeah, that's so totally you Gordo," she said in a voice filled with irony.

"No, no, I picked that out for Miranda."

"Wow, you must be pretty desperate to turn to Gordo for fashion advice," she said, turning towards Miranda. "Let me see if I can find you something more… _suitable_…"

Lizzie browsed through the boutique, pulled a few shirts and skirts from the racks and put them back again with a little disapproving sigh, before spotting a pair of jeans on display in the shop window. They were actually black jeans with fitted legs and some silver embroidery near the hemline.

"Here, this one's just perfect for you!" Lizzie said, proudly presenting her discovery to Miranda.

"That?!" Miranda exclaimed. "Those are skinny jeans. You'd need to have the figure of a supermodel to be able to fit in that!"

"Miranda, you _have_ got the figure of a supermodel."

"No, I don't!" Miranda yelled. "The fashion today is just horrible! I thought that the jeans were supposed to get a bit looser again, but look at _this_!"

"I'd have to agree with Miranda here," Gordo said. "What kind of message is the fashion industry sending, when you can only fit in these so-called 'cool' clothes if you starve yourself…?"

Lizzie wanted to reply, but the three were interrupted by a saleswoman, who gave them a you-kids-are-being-way-too-loud-in-a-place-that's-way-out-of-your-budget look.

"Can I help you," she asked grumpily without any intention of actually helping them.

"Well, actually, I wanted to _buy_ this outfit," Lizzie answered politely, pointing at the dress she was still wearing, while hanging the skinny jeans back.

"That'll be 299," the grumpy woman said.

Lizzie gasped as she heard these figures; she obviously hadn't paid any attention to the price yet.

"Are you sure you didn't displace a comma?" Gordo tried to joke, but Mrs. Moody clearly did not have a sense of humor.

A disappointed Lizzie quickly changed back into her own clothes and the three friends didn't know how fast they had to leave the Style Shack.

They wisely decided to spend the rest of the day bargain hunting. Lizzie actually found some cool shirts which were just within budget. Miranda appeared to be going for the 'layered look' today, considering several outfits that looked really good on her, at least according to Lizzie and Gordo, but she put all of them back at the last minute.

Eventually they got tired of shopping, or rather: Lizzie had run out of money, and the three of them were walking silently through the mall. Now that Lizzie's initial shopping rush had worn off, she was able to pay some more attention to the people around her again. Although she was glad to see that Miranda appeared to be in better spirits today, something just didn't feel right. The silence they would normally have been comfortable with was now feeling awkward. It was as if something was standing between them. Lizzie realized that they had been avoiding any mentioning of Miranda's outburst the other day, except for their little chat at Miranda's house this morning. Somehow, Miranda's explanation was even less convincing now than it had been this morning. She felt the urge to talk with her about it, but she wasn't sure how to bring it up tactfully. However, before she could say anything, Gordo broke the silence by suggesting going for pizza's at The Hillridge Pizza Piazza.

"Urg, you'll never become a health freak, will you? Can't we get ourselves some smoothies instead?" Miranda suggested.

Lizzie and Gordo both agreed and once they got there, Lizzie ordered a banana-mango smoothie and Gordo some concoction of strawberries, pineapple and something indeterminable, topped with a huge amount of whipped cream and a cherry.

"What?" Gordo asked when he saw the look on Lizzie's face.

"Nothing," Lizzie said drily. "What are you having Miranda?"

Miranda shrugged, then shook her head. "Nah, I don't think I want anything after all…"

"But Miranda, you're the one who insisted on going here!" Lizzie interjected.

"I'm just not hungry, OK?!" Miranda suddenly lashed out.

"Lizzie's right, you know," Gordo said in Lizzie's defense. "You've been acting so strangely all day. Like, you have put all the clothes you seemed to like back in the racks. You haven't bought anything. We want to know what is wrong with you!"

Miranda now got angry and she yelled: "Nothing! There's nothing wrong with me. Everything is just so freakin' expensive!"

"O, come on Miranda, it's not like you're on welfare or anything!"

"And what do _you_ know about it?!"

"Miranda, everybody knows your father makes big bucks at Sanders Inc.!"

"O yeah?!" Miranda screamed, her despair sounding through in her voice. "You don't know _anything_! You wanna know what happened, hm? My dad got _fired_, ok?! _Fired!_ We're broke, Gordo! _Broke!"_

* * *

_Please make my day and send me a review!_

_(I'll be my own reviewer for a bit when I say that I know nothing about fashion in general and dresses in particular, as you may have noticed.)_

_(posted on August 16, 2008)_


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm sorry for not updating for almost three months__. It's a typical case of real life getting in the way. I hope to have some more time to write now though, so I won't have to keep you waiting for such a long time anymore. Actually, I'm going to try something new here; I'm giving myself a deadline for the next chapter. I'll post it no later than November 30. Until then, enjoy chapter three._

_(A quick recap: Miranda has returned from (New?) Mexico, but she's hiding something from Lizzie and Gordo. On a trip to the mall, she's just confessed to them that her father has lost his job…)_

* * *

After Miranda had dropped this bombshell, neither Lizzie nor Gordo knew what to say. Her father's losing his job certainly put some of her strange behavior in the past days in perspective. Gordo felt especially guilty about criticizing Miranda for keeping her money in her pocket and about starting an argument with her. Lizzie realized that her taking Miranda to the mall was probably the worst thing she could have done in this situation. And so they both just stared at their feet, unaware of how tears were welling in Miranda's eyes. Miranda turned around, ready to run away, away from here, to run as far as she could.

"Miranda, wait!" Lizzie yelled. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

Miranda slowly turned around. "You don't have to be sorry. It's not like it's _your_ fault."

She paused and Gordo took this opportunity to make his apology. "I'm the one to blame here. I shouldn't have been so harsh just now. I'm really, really sorry. If there's anything I can do…"

Miranda sighed. "Gordo, I'm not blaming you either. It's just all this turmoil. My life is turned completely upside down; every certainty that I ever had is now on the line. I can't count on anything anymore…"

She was now crying all over again. The people at the mall were starting to stare at her. Miranda looked around and tried to cover her face with her hands. "Let's get out of here. I wanna go home."

The three of them quickly walked out. They passed the payphone where, under normal circumstances, they would have called Mrs. Sanchez to pick them up again. When Miranda saw Lizzie hesitate a little, she said: "I'd rather walk today."

"Of course, of course," Gordo said, "there's no need to waste money on gasoline."

"I doubt if that would make all the difference, but thanks anyway Gordo," Miranda said, trying to smile trough her tears.

And so the three friends were walking down the street together, underneath the cloudy skies, with Miranda in the middle at a bit faster pace, forcing Lizzie and Gordo to run one or two steps every now and than.

Lizzie put her arm around Miranda. "You know I'll always be there for you Miranda, no matter what."

"So will I," Gordo added as he put his hand on Miranda's shoulder.

"Thanks, you guys. That means a lot to me."

"At least your mother's still got her job," Gordo said in an effort to comfort her, but he achieved the opposite effect. Miranda was sobbing even louder now.

"That's just it," she tried to say through her sobs, "she doesn't have a job anymore. She quit it just three months ago."

"O my God," Lizzie cried out.

"I didn't know…" Gordo stammered, realizing that he seemed to be saying all the wrong things today.

"That's not even the worst part," Miranda continued. "The worst part is that she quit for _me_. She did it all _for me_. It's all my fault!"

"You shouldn't blame yourself," Gordo said, trying to comfort her again. "You couldn't have known that this would happen."

"But it _is_ my fault. She stopped working so she could take care of Stevie and me. I practically _made_ her quit when I… when I needed her help. I mean, who needs her mother to stay at home with her when she's almost an adult?"

Gordo disagreed. "Miranda, you're only fifteen."

"Yeah, and besides, there's nothing wrong with needing some help from your parents from time to time," Lizzie said. "Look at me; my mother is a stay-at-home mom and I come running for help from her all the time."

"Maybe you're right," Miranda sighed. "If only we had known what would happen, then my mother would have never given up her work."

"But the fact is: you didn't know, you all just did what you thought was best at the time and there's nothing wrong with _that_," Gordo stated resolutely.

"Yeah, you couldn't have known that your father would lose his job," Lizzie agreed. "I have a hard time believing it myself. How could those *** at Sanders Inc. let him off? He had been working there for how long, ten years?"

"Fifteen, can you believe it? It was just about time for his fifteenth anniversary when Mr. Sanders himself called him into his office. My dad was expecting a little celebration or even a bonus. When he heard the news, he was gutted."

"It's a disgrace!" Gordo said. "In what kind of world do we live when this is how big companies thank you for years and years of loyal service? And from what I remember, your father was always working very hard; he's got such a good work ethic."

"They told him," and Miranda hesitated for a moment, "that he was being fired for illicit absence."

"Illicit absence? But why?" Lizzie reacted in surprise. Mr. Sanchez didn't strike her as the kind of man who would just not show up at work. She soon realized though that Miranda's father was not the only one who had been away for a while. After all, Miranda herself missed the last month of middle school and she didn't even go to Rome with them, even though she had been so excited about the trip when they heard about it for the first time. She had never given a very clear explanation for her sudden disappearance; except that she was "sick" or that they were "visiting family in Mexico". Lizzie had become more and more suspicious about these so-called 'reasons' – more than ever after Miranda had reacted so evasive the other day when she had blabbed about staying in New Mexico – but Lizzie wasn't sure how to bring it up. She didn't want to create another scene, especially since Miranda seemed to be going trough such a tough time already, but now looked like the right moment to bring it up.

Lizzie turned her head to face Miranda directly. "Your father's absence, does it have something to do with you going MIA over two months ago?"

Miranda abruptly stopped walking and looked at Lizzie with a scared expression on her face. She opened her mouth as if she was going to speak, but she swallowed her words and looked down instead.

"Well… yeah, in a way… you see, um…" Miranda stammered. "We had to go to Mexico to take care of… someone."

"Don't you mean _New_ Mexico?" Gordo corrected, who was standing a few steps farther down the road.

"OK, New Mexico then," Miranda snarled. "What difference does it make anyway?"

"Nothing, it's just that you're being so secretive about it!" Gordo said, heading for a confrontation.

"I'm not being secretive!" Miranda lied.

"It's OK, it's ok," Lizzie said, trying to soothe the situation. When she saw that neither of them really wanted to argue with each other, she started walking again and said: "So you and your family were in… um, over there to take care of somebody. You mean like a relative who's sick? You told us you were there to visit your family."

"Yeah," Miranda said, "I guess you could say it like that."

"That relative must have been pretty important then, for your father to risk his job for it," Lizzie said, "or doing really bad, right?"

"She was," Miranda answered, slowly nodding her head. "She was doing pretty badly. I don't know what she would have done without my dad having been there to support her."

"I like how close your family is," Gordo remarked as they turned into the Sanchez's street. "To sacrifice so much for his… um… what was it, your dad's sister or aunt or…?"

"O, eh… it's… eh…"

"Miranda, chica! Lizzie, Gordo!" Mr. Sanchez called from the lawn in the front yard, which he was mowing.

"Daddy!" Miranda exclaimed, visibly relieved.

After she had given her father a hug and he had welcomed both of her friends, he soon noticed that his daughter had been crying.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Your eyes look so red…"

"She just told us everything," Gordo answered for her.

"Everything?" Mr. Sanchez said.

"About how you lost your job," Miranda quickly filled in.

Her father frowned and said: "Yeah, some people just don't understand that you have to let your family come first. Over fifteen years of my life I've given them. And for what?"

After the four of them had agreed that life wasn't fair, Miranda went inside, followed by Lizzie and Gordo. It wasn't entirely clear whether Miranda really wanted them to tag along, but their conversation was far from over as far as Lizzie and Gordo were concerned. They went up to Miranda's room, greeting her sister Stevie on their way up. It had been a while since Lizzie had last been at Miranda's and actually, her room looked a bit different now, the most noticeable change being a home-trainer that was placed directly in front of her TV.

'_It seems like she's become quite an athlete,'_ Lizzie thought, _'although you wouldn't say that when you look at her.'_

Mrs. Sanchez soon followed the three friends with a tray with three Diet Cokes. When she had left and they were enjoying their drinks, the atmosphere became less tense and Gordo dared to bring up the sensitive topic again.

"So how's your father dealing with the whole situation? From what I've just seen, he's having a hard time."

"Yeah, it isn't easy for him to accept the way things are now," Miranda sighed, while she sat down on her bed and pulled up her knees. "I guess he's always seen himself as the provider of the family, someone who always takes care of his wife and children, but now, because he had to take care of his family by going away, he can't provide for us financially anymore. It's as if he thinks he's nothing but a failure now."

"And how does that make you feel?" asked Gordo, who had shifted into shrink-mode like he had seen his parents do so many times.

"I don't know… I guess I feel kinda guilty about the whole thing," Miranda said in a small voice, "and worried, worried about what's gonna happen now. I mean: all that I used to be sure of is now up in the air. Like, what if my parents can't find a new job soon. They told me that they had saved a little money, but how long will it take until that's gone? And then what are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go? Will we have to sell the house? And…" and she paused before she continued, "does that mean that we need to move out of Hillridge?"

"Leave Hillridge?!" Lizzie reacted distressed; she had not even realized it might come to that.

"Maybe," Miranda answered, "but my parents say that won't happen anytime soon. But even then, there's so much more to worry about. You know the Bristol-Hillman Music Conservatory, that exclusive music school I always dreamt of going to after we finish high school. It turns out that the tuition is really high, so that's probably out of the picture now. I don't know where the hell I'm supposed to go after high school, 'cause we can't afford any kind of college now. So there's my future, gone up in smoke. It's just making me sick…"

Gordo and Lizzie listened to her breathlessly. As Miranda was talking, she didn't look directly at Lizzie or Gordo. In fact, it looked as if she was talking into her pillow, but at least she was talking now.

"I can't even go see a doctor when I need to," Miranda continued, "after my dad was fired we lost our health insurance. So if we need help, we're just totally on our own, 'cause we're poor people now and apparently, nobody gives a damn about you anymore when you're poor. What if I'm sick… or worse: what if mom or dad gets sick, or Stevie… O, what have I done?"

After that, her sobs kept her from saying more.

Lizzie's heart broke over seeing her best friend in so much pain. She sat down on the bed next to Miranda and pulled an arm around her. Gordo tried to comfort her with words by saying: "You've done nothing wrong Miranda. If you want to blame anyone for this, blame society. It's a big disgrace that good health care has become some kind of privilege, only for people with money!" but his words came out more angrily than he had intended and Miranda only started crying even louder.

Miranda leaned against Lizzie's shoulder, but this caused Lizzie to lose her balance and the drink she was still holding in her right hand was now up in midair. A small gasp escaped from her lips and when she got up again, she took the damage. Her coke had spilt all over her shirt and she noticed now how the sugar had turned it into one sticky mess.

Miranda started up in surprise, her sobs turning into half laughs, as Lizzie's familiar clumsiness broke the tension a little.

'_At least something good has come from it__,'_ Lizzie thought as she watched Miranda lighten up a bit.

Miranda now joined Gordo, who was trying to mop up most of the lemonade from the floor with Kleenexes from the box that Miranda had used to dry her tears only moments ago.

"My mom probably knows how to get the stain out, so maybe you wanna go downstairs," Miranda suggested.

"Why do these things always happen to me?" Lizzie asked herself out loud as she threw her hands in the air while she was leaving the room.

She hasted herself down the stairs, but before she entered the Sanchez's kitchen, she halted, because she could hear the voices of two people in the middle of an emotional discussion.

"_That's _all we've got left?!" Lizzie heard Mr. Sanchez call out. "How are we supposed to pay our mortgage, food, clothes…?"

"I'm sure everything is going to be all right, Edward," his wife tried to soothe.

"And what about Miranda?" Mr. Sanchez continued. "She's about to start high school. She'll need a small fortune's worth of school supplies. And we already have this huge pile of bills for her that we will never be able to pay."

"Edward honey, soon you will find a job and then I'll find one too and…"

"But what if we don't?!" he interrupted. "Soon, we've won't have any money left and then our creditors will be banging on our door."

Mr. Sanchez paused and, as she kept listening breathlessly, Lizzie could see through a small crack in the door how he turned to Miranda's mom and put his hand on her shoulder as he continued in the gravest tone:

"Daniela, I think we need to sell the house."

When she heard this, Lizzie was in total shock.

Apparently, so was Miranda's mother, because she had started to cry and her husband was trying to comfort her in his arms, while whispering something to her in Spanish. Lizzie now found tears running down her own cheeks as well, but somehow she managed to keep her sobs down, so that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Sanchez could hear her.

They were continuing their conversation in Spanish now and Lizzie didn't understand a word of it, except "Stevie", "Mexico", a lot of "Miranda"s and the occasional "Edward" and "Daniela".

After a while they all seemed to have calmed down somewhat and Miranda's parents gradually shifted back to English.

"You know we need the money to get Miranda the help she needs," Mr. Sanchez said.

"Don't you think she's doing a lot better since we've returned from 'that place' in New Mexico?"

"Sorry Danie', but I think you only see what you want to see. I know when I ask her how she's doing, she smiles and tells me she's alright, but her eyes are telling a different story. She's hiding it from us. I can see it; I can just feel it."

"But before we left 'that place', the 'people' there said that she was finally making some progress…"

"She was starting to, yeah," Mr. Sanchez interrupted, "but when she opened up to them at last, we were forced to leave. If only I hadn't lost that stupid job…"

"Edward, honey, don't blame this on yourself again. You only did what was best for your family and I love you for that," Daniela said, placing her hand on his upper arm.

"I know, I know…" Edward answered, shaking his head. "I just wished that we had some help to deal with the whole situation. I feel like we're in way over our heads. You know she's exercising all the time. I see her sweaty face every time she's been out. Should we keep her in? And even if we do, she's still got that home-trainer _in her own room_." He paused for a moment to think, than continued resolutely: "I'm taking it out of her room tonight."

"O Eddy, are you sure? You know that's gonna be another fight. I don't know if she can take anymore. I don't know if _I_ can take anymore. We're already fighting at the dinner table _every single evening_, because…"

CLANG!

She was interrupted by a big bang coming from the hallway. Lizzie had been listening closely from behind the door, but she inadvertently knocked over a fruit bowl.

'_Two times in a row? I must really be in __top form today,'_ she thought. She quickly put everything back together, still hoping that nobody had heard her, but Mr. Sanchez was already standing in the doorway.

"Oh, um, hi… Sorry for knocking over your fruit bowl, Mr. Sanchez. I was just on my way downstairs and, well…" Lizzie lied.

Mr. Sanchez frowned. _'Uh-oh, he knows it; he knows that I'm lying and that I've been eavesdropping all this time,'_ Lizzie worried.

"That's OK. It could have happened to all of us," Miranda's father answered.

'_Phew…'_ A sigh of relief went through Lizzie's body.

Lizzie asked Miranda's mother's help with the stain on her shirt and, indeed, she knew exactly what to do. Apparently her shirt had to soak in some special detergent for a while ("the Sanchez family secret") and then be put into the washing machine. Lizzie was offered one of Miranda's old shirts. ("I think you still had the same size at that time.") Lizzie politely accepted it and put it on in the scullery. The old black T-shirt with flames on the front that Miranda used to wear fitted Lizzie indeed. Well, almost…

After thanking Mrs. Sanchez again, Lizzie went back up to Miranda's room. Once there, she found Miranda sitting with her feet stretched out on her bed as if it were a sofa. Gordo had seated himself on a chair next to her, his face serious, professionally serious almost. If he had been taking notes, the picture of a psychiatrist's session would have been complete.

Most of what else was said during that afternoon went past Lizzie. She couldn't focus on the conversation at hand; her mind kept wondering off to what she had heard downstairs earlier. Her intuition had been right, something _was_ wrong with Miranda. And according to her parents, she needed help. No, apparently she had already _had_ help. In New Mexico? And she was 'finally making progress'? Lizzie tried to figure everything out in her head with what little information she had. When she left to go home not much later, she wondered whether it had something to do with their possible moving out of Hillridge. As she walked through the front yard, she could almost see the for sale sign standing there, with a big red 'sold' sign on it and Miranda stepping into the Sanchez's car, never to return. The mere thought of it nearly gave Lizzie a nervous breakdown – and she wasn't even moving herself. Let alone how it had to feel for Miranda… But wait, Miranda's parents hadn't told her yet; this couldn't be the cause of everything, but what was? She still couldn't quite put her finger on it. Couldn't… or wouldn't perhaps. Maybe she just wouldn't admit to herself that she had already seen this all. They had been down this road before. Deep down, Lizzie knew.

_

* * *

_

(posted on November 12, 2008)


	4. Chapter 4

_Here's chapter four, as promised. I guess giving myself a deadline works for me…  
__Enjoy,  
__MathLeft_

* * *

RING RING!

"Hello?"

"Hi Lizzie, it's me," Gordo answered on the other end of the line. "Where are you?"

"Why home, of course. Would I be answering on my home number if I was somewhere else?" Lizzie said, feeling very pleased with herself for outsmarting Gordo.

"The reason I'm asking you, is that I'm wondering why you're not here," Gordo answered slightly agitated. "You and your parents were supposed to pick Miranda and me up, remember?"

"Oh, um… of course I remember," Lizzie said hesitantly. "What did we say again?"

"Did you forget what we talked about when we were over at Miranda's last Saturday? Gee, where were you with your thoughts McGuire? We made plans to go to the gym together."

'_To the gym? That's nothing like Gordo,'_ Lizzie thought.

"I know it's not something I would usually agree to do," Gordo continued, "but we went thought some pretty serious stuff last Saturday and we thought we should do something more relaxing. It turns out that Miranda is a member of the gym and she suggested we go with her today."

'_How could I forget about that?'_ Lizzie thought. _'And since when is working out relaxing?'_

Nevertheless, she told him she would come over right away. Not much later, Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda were silently sitting in Mr. McGuire's car, who had been kind enough to drop his work and drive them.

* * *

Once he had dropped them off at the Hillridge Gym, Miranda was jumping up and down and throwing her arms in the air, exclaiming: "All right! Let's get ready for some serious action!"

Her fighting spirit soon vanished though, when they met an old 'acquaintance' in the corridors, who was followed by her 'posse'.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't Gor-dork and Lose-ie and look, third wheel what's-she-called is back from wherever she was."

'_Whatever happened to the friendly Kate I shared a room with in Italy?'_ Lizzie thought. _'Don't be so mean to me and my friends!'_

"What do you want, Kate?" Lizzie replied, sounding much more fiercely then she usually did.

"Ahhh, she's finally standing up for herself. At a girl," Kate said with an evil smile.

"What are you doing here anyway, Kate?" Gordo said, sticking up for Lizzie. "Aren't you afraid you might break a nail or something?"

"I'm glad you care so much about my nails," Kate said sarcastically, "but no, us _popular_ kids are here to work out. You know, _I_ am going to be a _cheerleader_ in high school, so _I_ have to look my absolute best, so _I_ am going to burn some carbs." She looked at them from head to toe with a disgusted look and added: "And it looks like it's about time _you_ did the same."

"But… but we _are_ here to do the same. We're going to work out too," Miranda stammered.

"Fine. As long as you keep out of the area near the mirrors in the front. That's for cool people – you know, beauty queens like me. Losers can stay with the fat people at the back."

"Since when do you get to decide where we can stay? We have just as much right to…" Gordo tried to go against her, but Kate stroke her 'talk to the hand' pose and completely ignored what was said to her.

"_Later!_"

And with that, she walked away, closely followed by her entourage.

"O! That girl gives me the creeps," Gordo complained once they were out of sight. "I can't believe how completely self-righteous she is."

"Maybe, but she _does _get to hang out with all the cool people," Miranda said.

"And why should we care about that? Why do _you_ care?"

"Look," Miranda said, "all I'm saying is: we'll be going to high school soon, right? And wouldn't life there be so much easier if we were popular? And if anyone knows how to become part of the popular crowd, it's Kate. So maybe, just maybe it would be a good idea to take her advice."

"What?!" Gordo exclaimed upset.

"Do you want everything to be as bad as it was in middle school again?" Miranda asked.

"Well," Lizzie said, "it would be nice to be one of the popular girls for a change."

Gordo sighed. He never understood why most people made such a big deal out of being popular, but he did know this much: when Lizzie and Miranda started going down this road,

there was no point in arguing with them.

* * *

Not much later, Miranda, Lizzie and Gordo were running on three treadmills – next to other, in the middle of the gym.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Gordo said, breathing heavily, even though he had only just started. "Engaging in heavy physical activity goes strongly against my principles."

Lizzie chuckled; this was exactly what she was thinking herself. However, her face soon clouded, as she thought back at what she had heard Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez say about Miranda exercising. Wasn't this exactly what they didn't want her to do?

Carefully, Lizzie tried to touch the subject. "So… the 'rents were pretty surprised when they heard we were going to the gym. How about yours?"

"Mine were as surprised as yours…" Gordo answered. "My father actually gave me a whole lecture about the importance of physical exercise for adolescents."  
"And how about yours?" Lizzie asked, looking questioningly in Miranda's direction.

"Oh, you know, not much…" Miranda said airily.

'_Yeah, because you didn't tell them,'_ Lizzie thought.  
"Erm, Miranda," she said, "how much did you tell them about where we were going today?"

"Well, actually, you know what Gordo always says: 'Parents scrape and sacrifice to provide us with shelter, support and guidance, and in return, we have as little to do with them as possible'."

"I _do_ always say that," said Gordo. "Maybe I should follow my own advice. It would probably save me from many lectures full of good 'life strategies' from my parents."

'_No Gordo, she's hiding stuff and that can _not_ be good,' _Lizzie thought. _'Why can't you see that? You're saying exactly the wrong things.'_ She figured it would be best to talk to Miranda alone, so she said: "Phew, this running thing is pretty exhausting. Shall we take a break now? I could really use one. Can't we get ourselves something to eat?"

"A break?!" Miranda called out, as if Lizzie had just said something profoundly offensive. "We're only just getting started. I've already had a large breakfast this morning. We've got to keep going. We're not a bunch of wimps, are we?"

"Oh, I am," Gordo eagerly admitted, "and I'm taking a break now, before I collapse."

"Suit yourself," Miranda said. "I'll see you when you feel up to it again."

Moments later, Lizzie and Gordo were sitting together in the gym's juice corner, watching Miranda through the glass wall.

'_OK, this was not supposed to happen'_, Lizzie thought. _'Now Miranda's all by herself. Maybe I can talk some sense into Gordo. How can he be so oblivious to everything?'_

"Look at Miranda," she said, "working out as if her life is depending on it."

"Yeah, I never thought of her as the athletic type. You know she even has a home trainer in her room now?"

'_Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Maybe it's a good thing after all that we can talk in private.'_

"Gordo, I'm glad we're here together, because I've wanted to talk to you alone."

"So have I," Gordo said and he smiled and took her hand.

'_What is this? Not now, Gordo! Miranda needs us!'_ screamed Lizzie's internal dialogue. She pulled her hand back and said: "On second thought, we'd better go back. We can't leave Miranda all alone…" And she strode back to where Miranda was, followed by a confused guy.

The three of them went on with their work-out. It must be said that the whole thing was not a big success for Lizzie and Gordo; they didn't have a clue about the working of most apparatuses. Lizzie's 'balance issues' were not exactly helping either and Gordo… Well, let's say his mind powers are a lot better then his physical powers. Only Miranda kept going on and on and on.

* * *

Several hours went by and, after embarrassing himself for the hundredth time, Gordo was the first one to reach his limit.

"That's it! I've had it. I'm worn out, hungry and I want to go home!"

"I'm with you, Gordo," Lizzie agreed. "Time to call it quits. Don't you think, Miranda?"

"No… gotta… keep… going…" Miranda puffed.

"O, come on, we've been here for hours," Gordo said. "It's time to go."

Miranda threw an angry look at them. "Fine! Then go. I'll walk home when I'm done."

Lizzie and Gordo, both too tired to argue, gave up and went back to the juice corner, where Gordo called his father to pick them up. He was currently talking with one of his patients and he would come pick them up in half an hour. Gordo and Lizzie had a snack at one of the tables while they were waiting, but there was now a rather awkward silence between them. Lizzie kept worrying about Miranda. Things were looking stranger by the minute… She looked up and tried to spot her through the glass window and what she saw surprised her even more. Miranda was not alone; she was actually working out together with… Kate Sanders.

Lizzie and Gordo watched this spectacle in awe for a while and then exchanged a look of surprise and utter disbelief.

Lizzie was the first one to break the silence: "I can't believe it, Miranda together with Kate?! Pinch me, I must be dreaming…"

"It's more like a nightmare," Gordo responded. "Are we in the twilight zone?"

"Why are they together?"

"Is Miranda good enough for Kate now that her posse has left?" Gordo wondered.

They looked through the glass window once more, but this time they couldn't see Miranda anywhere. Instead, they noticed that a crowd was gathering where Miranda had been before and in its middle, there was Kate, terribly upset.

Lizzie and Gordo hurried to where all the people were and elbowed themselves through the mass. What they saw then, disturbed them more than anything. Miranda lay down on the floor, passed out.

A man, who looked as if he worked there, had bend over Miranda's motionless body. Kate was standing next to her with her hands in her hair. Lizzie and Gordo froze to the ground. Slowly, reality dawned on them. For a moment that felt like an eternity, it seemed as if Miranda would never wake up again, but then, she slowly opened her eyes.

"What… what happened?"

"Looks like you just fainted young lady," the man said.

"O my God, Miranda, are you ok?" Lizzie asked.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine," Miranda stumbled while she slowly got up again.

"Are you sure?" asked Gordo. "You still look so pale. Maybe we'd better call an ambulance."

"No, no! Really, I'm all right. I don't need a doctor."

"But you just passed out," Lizzie said. "We were so worried. I'll call a doctor just in case."

"Hold it," the man said. "You heard the girl. She doesn't need a doctor. We already get enough trouble from girls passing out here as it is. I don't want those paramedics over here again. Just get her something to eat."

"But… but…" Lizzie stammered.

"Honestly, I'm ok," Miranda said, "and I'm not hungry; I was just a little lightheaded. Happens all the time; nothing to worry about."

Lizzie and Gordo didn't agree, but at that moment, Mr. Gordon arrived. Normally, he would have been the person to talk to, but today he seemed preoccupied. It turned out that he had just received a phone call that one of his patients "was about to do something very 'unwise'" and he was in a great hurry to get there. And so they all had to haste themselves to his car, with which Mr. Gordon than raced through the streets of Hillridge to drop the three of them off at their respective houses, so that he could go see his patient.

Moments later, Lizzie was standing alone in her driveway, thinking back on what she had just seen.

But this time, she did have a clear idea of what was going on with Miranda. Not eating anything, exercising all the time and passing out on top of it all. Wasn't it just like that time in middle school when they were practicing for that music video?

Lizzie knew that something had to be done. She just didn't have the faintest idea what.

_

* * *

_

Thank you for continuing to read my story. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.

_(posted on November 30, 2008)_


	5. Chapter 5

_First of all, I would like to t__hank my reviewers; I appreciate the feedback.  
(Therefore, from now on __when I'm showing Lizzie's thoughts, I will only use single quotes and no italics, especially for christylee. :p )  
I think this relatively short chapter will be more or less the calm before the storm…_

_I hope you all had a merry Christmas and I wish you all the best for the upcoming year!  
__MathLeft_

* * *

"Matt! Put that down!" Lizzie yelled, as she chased her pesky little brother Matt, who had just grabbed one of Lizzie's freshly baked cupcakes from the baking tray.

Matt quickly put the cupcake in his mouth and replied: "Buftf I love cufcakes!"

"Ooh, I'm gonna get you, you little cactus head!"

Matt jumped over the couch, narrowly escaping Lizzie's hands; he ran away to the hallway and yelled: "Mom! Lizzie's trying to grab me!"

"Hey you kids, cut that out!" Mrs. McGuire said as she came down the stairs. "Lizzie, stop chasing your brother!"

"But he's stealing _my_ cupcakes!" Lizzie protested. "He didn't even ask."

"Matt, don't eat your sister's cupcakes!"

"Hey, I need to fuel up before I go and be the star of the soccer field," Matt replied.

"O, look! You already made a stain on your soccer shirt," Mrs. McGuire noticed now that she had directed her attention towards her son.

"Well mom, it was gonna get dirty in a few hours anyway."

Mrs. McGuire gave up. "O, just get in the car; we're late anyway. Sam, tell me again: why am _I_ taking him?" she asked her husband, who was walking down the stairs in his baseball uniform.

"I would if I could Jo, but our team's got a very important match today," he answered.

"Very important? You're standing last and you're playing the semi-last."

"So you see, very important…"

"Why is it they always schedule these things when you've got something to do _here_?" Jo wondered. "It's as if they do it on purpose…"

Mr. McGuire grinned as he watched his wife and son go out the front door.

"Matt has to play an away game today, so we won't be home for a _long_ time. That means _you're_ fixing dinner today," Mrs. McGuire quickly said before she closed the door behind her.

The grin on Sam's face quickly disappeared.

He followed his nose to find Lizzie back in the kitchen, mixing some dough.

"Ooh yummy, cupcakes!" he said as he lifted one from the tray to his mouth.

'Grabbing my cupcakes without even asking; like father, like son,' Lizzie thought.

Apparently, her father sensed her thoughts. "O," he said with his mouth full, "is it alright if I take one?"

"Sure."

'…you already took it anyway,' she added in her mind and went back to her mixing work.

After watching his daughter at work for a short while, her father spoke: "What are you baking?"

"Cookies," she said without looking up.

"You're baking cupcakes _and_ cookies?"

"Yeah…" Lizzie answered suspiciously, "and I also made some brownies earlier. What about it?"

"Look," her father said as he turned his head to look her directly in the eyes, "I know I can be a bit clueless at times, but I can see something's bothering you. I mean, you barely spoke a word the past few days and now you're on some kind of a baking rush… Something must be upsetting you."

Lizzie wondered if she should tell her father about what was going on with Miranda. She _did_ feel like she was in way over her head and could use some good advice…

"Well, you see… it's… I…"

_HONK! HONK!_

She was interrupted by a car in front of the McGuire house that was sounding its horn. Through the kitchen window, they could see two big guys, Mr. McGuire's baseball buddies, in their old station wagon, loudly announcing that his ride had arrived. Mr. McGuire gestured them to wait a minute and turned his attention back to Lizzie.

"What is it you were trying to tell me?"

On second thought, Lizzie figured that it may not be alright to share such personal information about her best friend with someone else.

"Nothing…" she answered.

"Are you sure? Because, if something's bothering you, you should know that you can tell me, at any time, no matter what. You're secret is safe with me."

"Thanks dad, but it isn't really my secret to tell. It's about… someone I know."

The two big guys honked impatiently.

"Look, I have to go now, but I suggest you to talk to this 'other person', whoever it may be, about 'it', whatever it may be. And if afterwards it's still bothering you, you come talk to me, OK?"

Lizzie nodded. "OK."

"Will you be alright?" he asked as he put on his baseball hat.

"Sure." ('…I hope…')

"Alright then," he said from the doorway. "And remember: no parties when I'm gone."

"Of course not dad," Lizzie said with a little smile slowly growing back on her face. "You'll be back before the sun sets. What could happen?"

"Way too much," Sam said to himself as he kissed his daughter goodbye.

* * *

After her father had left, Lizzie went back to her cookies and worked on them as if her life depended on it. When she had finally put them into the oven, she stepped back to take a breather and overlook the kitchen, which now looked like a battlefield with flour and egg all over the place. She figured she'd better start cleaning it up before her mother came home, but then she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder…

She squeaked on top of her lunges.

"O Lizzie, I didn't mean to scare you," said a not so scary voice from behind her.

"O Gordo, it's you," Lizzie said, catching her breath. "You startled me."

"Sorry about that, the door was open and I just followed my nose into the kitchen. O, you made cupcakes, yummy!" Gordo said as put one in his mouth, without asking.

"You like?" Lizzie smiled. "I've got brownies for you too and in a minute or so our cookies will also be ready."

"Great!" he said enthusiastically, but then his face turned serious as he remembered why he was here. "Lizzie, I think we need to talk about Miranda. I keep trying to convince myself that she's OK, but her passing out yesterday was the last drop. I think something is very wrong with her."

"I think you're right, Gordo; she has a problem. Especially after what I heard her parents say last Saturday."

"What did you hear?"

"I've been wanting to talk to you about it," said Lizzie and she told him what she had overheard Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez say. Lizzie and Gordo talked together about Miranda's strange behavior since she had returned and about the warning signs that both of them should have noticed.

* * *

"…it's just like that time in middle school when we were practicing that dance routine," Lizzie said.

"You mean for that music video clip we made to that song; what was it called again? Well, it doesn't matter now anyway…"

"What matters now," said Lizzie, "is that we stop pretending that everything is alright with Miranda, 'cause it's not."

"You know, I've been reading in my parents' case-files about this," Gordo said.

"You still do that?" Lizzie remarked.

"Sure," Gordo answered as if it were the most normal thing in the world, "and I think it's pretty clear that it's time we confronted Miranda with her…" and he hesitated for a moment before actually saying it, "…with her _eating disorder_."

"You're absolutely right," Lizzie said sadly, but with determination in her voice. "It's time we confronted her."

And she had barely finished saying that when they heard someone tapping on the window. It was Miranda.

* * *

_Next time: __The Confrontation…_

_(posted on 30 December 2008)_


	6. The Confrontation

_Again, I'd like to thank my reviewers.  
It was about time I updated…  
Even though I may update this story irregularly, I always finish what I start._

* * *

Miranda stuck her head around the corner of the door. "Hey there!"

Lizzie and Gordo looked at each other. _That confrontation may come sooner than we thought…_

"Am I… interrupting something?" Miranda wondered, not expecting to see Lizzie and Gordo together.

"What? No…" Lizzie answered. "Come in. What brings you here?"

Miranda stepped into the McGuire kitchen and held out a shirt on a hanger. "Thought you may want to have your shirt back. Look, you almost can't see the stain anymore."

Lizzie gratefully took the shirt from Miranda. "Thanks… I, um… thanks…" She wanted to say more, but what should she say? What do you tell your best friend when you think that she has an eating disorder? Lizzie remembered what happened last year, when she first suspected Miranda of having a problem. She had tried to talk to her on a trip to the mall, but everything had gone wrong and they ended up having a big argument in the middle of a store. Now Lizzie looked to her right, where Gordo was standing. _You talk to her, _the expression on her face tried to tell him. But she could see that it was as difficult for Gordo as it was for her. And so they both just kept standing there and the awkward silence also became noticeable to Miranda.

"What's going on?" she wondered suspiciously.

"…Nothing…" Lizzie said.

"Yeah, nothing," Gordo agreed. "Well, nothing… There is something we need to talk to you about, but we're not sure how to tell you."

"What… O," she stammered and she looked at Gordo, at Lizzie and then she looked at both of them together. "Has it finally happened? Are you two…?"

"No!" Gordo exclaimed.

"No no," Lizzie agreed, "I mean… well, no. It's something completely different."

"Something very serious," Gordo added. "Maybe we better sit down."  
Why is it that people always sit down when they need to tell you something terrible? Is it a way to define an important moment or is it just a stalling technique, postponing the inevitable bad news?

Lizzie and Gordo seated themselves on the sofa, while Miranda hesitantly sat down on the edge of one of the armchairs.

The angst in her eyes told that she suspected what Lizzie and Gordo were going to tell her and she was not at all comfortable with that.

_OK, there we go_, Lizzie said to herself. _Take a breath and tell her._

"Miranda… We want to talk to you about what's been going on lately, since you've come back. And maybe… maybe much, much longer… Do you remember last year, when we were making that video clip?"

Cautiously, Miranda looked up. "Sure…" she answered. Now there was no doubt left about where this conversation was going. "…We came up with a whole choreography to that song. What was it called? O, I remember, it was 'Us against the world' from that Swedish group – I think it was called Play. Whatever happened to them? We never heard anything from them after that," she ranted and she nervously wiggled with her leg while she was talking. "So it's true; it's really hard to build a career in music industry and…"

"Miranda," Gordo interrupted, "we are not here to talk about forgotten Swedish girl groups."

She quieted down and stared at the floor.

"There was something going on when we shot that video and I'm afraid it's happening all over again," Lizzie said sadly, "or perhaps it never stopped."

"We're seeing the same signs," Gordo said. "You're not eating, always exercising…"

"And when we were at the mall, you were all… body conscious," Lizzie added.

"And on top of that all, you passed out in the gym last Wednesday."

Miranda was breathing heavily and still desperately trying to avoid any eye-contact.

"…So you see Miranda, we're afraid that… it's just like last year and that you… you…" Lizzie paused and bit her lip. "That you've got an eating disorder."

Miranda stared blankly in front of her. For a moment it seemed as if she was going to speak, but then she turned silent again. And then she really got started.

"So you think you've got it _all_ figured out, don't you? Poor, pathetic, _stupid_ little Miranda. I dieted a little too much _once_, so of course I must always be anorexic. What a load of crap! I never should have told you guys _anything_!"

"No!" Lizzie and Gordo cried out in unison.

"We don't think you're stupid at all," Lizzie said. "We're just worried about you, Miranda."

"Stop 'worrying' and stay the hell out of my life!" Miranda yelled.

"But we only want what's best for you," Gordo opposed. "You see, my parents see lots of people like you in their practice and they all need…"

"O! Right! Little Gordo's got it _all_ figured out, hasn't he? Gordo thinks he knows it all, because his mommy and daddy are shrinks. You don't know _anything_, Gordo, _anything_!" Miranda yelled and she jumped up from her chair pointing her finger at Gordo. "Have you got any idea how arrogant you are? Thinking you know everything, 'cause you're a 'straight A' student? With your lame movies and all your other pathetic little obsessions. You're just a really weird kid and you're telling _me_ that _I'm_ not normal?"

Lizzie couldn't take it anymore. "Miranda, stop! I know this is difficult for you. I even understand your outburst right now, but shooting insults at Gordo is a step too far!"

Miranda huffed. "Ah, yes. Lizzie and Gordo, Gordo and Lizzie, 'best friends', the _two _of you always stand up for each other. What is it, Liz'? Afraid of confrontations, _as always_? Doesn't it fit into your perfect 'Lizzie-world'? Welcome to the _real_ world. Or is that too much too handle for the sweet, perfect little Lizzie. O, everybody loves Lizzie. Lizzie, with the _perfect_ behavior; never in trouble, always polite, always _weak_! Lizzie with the perfect bleach-blond hair. Lizzie with the perfect all-American family. Lizzie and the pop stars. Lizzie and the _boys_…"

Then Lizzie did something she shouldn't have done. It was wrong and she knew it, but she was so aggravated by now that she did it anyway.

"So you think _we_ are all crazy weirdoes and you're just fine, huh? If you really don't have an eating disorder, then prove it. Prove it!" And Lizzie took the tray with cupcakes and put it in front of Miranda. "Here, eat one. Eat one and prove us all wrong. Come on, what are you waiting for?!"

"Are you out of you're freakin' mind? Who the hell do you think you are?" Miranda yelled.

"So it's true," Lizzie smirked. "You do have an eating problem."

"Shut up, you bitch!" Miranda yelled. "I don't have a problem. You're just a lousy cook. No-one wants to eat that shit that you always bake!"

"Hey, knock it off!" Gordo said. By now, he too was too aggravated to realize how wrong Lizzie's plan was. "Don't you dare talk to Lizzie like that! And by the way, she's a fantastic cook."

"O, look at Gordo, standing up for his girl," Miranda said, her voice running over with sarcasm… "You two just make me sick!"

"Why do you have to be like that, Miranda?" Lizzie said. "Why can't you just admit that you've got a problem? And stop being such a bitch!"

"That's enough! Just shut up and get out! Both of you. _Get out!_"

"Stop it Miranda. This is _my_ house, you can't kick me out!"

"Fine! Then I'll leave. I don't ever wanna see you again," Miranda yelled and she turned around and started pacing towards the door.

"Yeah, sure, don't face your problems. Leave when it gets hard. Coward!"

Miranda turned around. "I'm not a coward."

"No? Then take this and eat it!" And Lizzie took a cupcake from the tray and put it in Miranda's hands. Lizzie took a few steps back and stood with her arms crossed, demanding Miranda to eat it.

"You know what you can do with your cupcakes?!" Miranda screamed. "_Here_!" And in blind rage, Miranda threw the cupcake at Lizzie's face. In her anger, she almost missed and the cupcakes grazed the side of Lizzie's face instead.

"What the hell, Miranda?!" Gordo exclaimed.

"You see, she's doing all kinds of crazy stuff, just so that she doesn't have to eat anything," said Lizzie, who wasn't frightened by Miranda at all. "I was right; she's really has got an eating disorder."

"I don't!" Miranda yelled. "So you want proof; you want proof, hm?!"

"Yes I do!"

"Fine. Here you've got your stupid proof."

And Miranda took another cupcake from the tray, brought it to her mouth, closed her eyes and she ate it. No, she wasn't just eating it. She took huge bites, hardly chewed and swallowed each piece with more disgust on her face.

When she was done, she plumped back down on the couch. As loudly as they had been fighting before, so quiet was it now. But they all knew nothing was really quiet between them. You could cut the tension with a knife.

They sat there in total silence for almost a minute and it seemed like an hour. No-one dared to speak. Miranda's foot was trembling; Lizzie and Gordo just stared blankly at the floor. Then suddenly the oven's timer rang.

"I… better… oven…" Lizzie stumbled.

"I'll help you," Gordo said, glad for an excuse to leave and quickly followed Lizzie into the kitchen.

Once there, Lizzie put on her oven mittens and pulled out a plate with cookies. _Cookies…_ They were the last thing on her mind right now. She stepped back to take a breath, but she heard footsteps on the stairs, followed by the sound of the bathroom door closing. It had to be Miranda. Lizzie looked at Gordo and his pale face told that he was thinking the same thing. Lizzie let go of her cookies and ran up the stairs, with Gordo behind her. When they arrived at the bathroom door, Gordo hesitated, but Lizzie didn't and briskly opened the door.

And there was Miranda, bent over the toilet. She was throwing up.

* * *

(_posted on 31 March 2009)_


End file.
